Jack Graham (Australian footballer, born 1998)

Jack Graham
Graham with Richmond in May 2018
Personal information
Nickname(s) Fridge[1]
Date of birth (1998-02-25) 25 February 1998
Original team(s) North Adelaide (SANFL)
Tea Tree Gully (NEMJFA)
Draft No. 53, 2016 AFL national draft
Debut Round 22, 2017, Richmond
vs. Fremantle, at Domain Stadium
Height 181 cm (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current club Richmond
Number 34
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
2017– Richmond 15 (7)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of round 11, 2018.
Career highlights

AFL

Junior

  • Larke Medal: 2016
  • Under 18 All-Australian: 2016
  • Under 18 South Australia captain: 2016
  • Under 16 South Australia captain: 2014
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Jack Graham (born 25 February 1998) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). As a junior he captained South Australia at the 2016 AFL Under 18 Championships and won the Larke Medal as the competition's best player. After being drafted by Richmond in the third round of the 2016 draft, he became a 2017 premiership player with the club in just his fifth career AFL game.

Early life and junior football

Graham spent his formative years in the North eastern Adelaide suburb of Greenwith.[2] He played junior football with Tea Tree Gully in the North Eastern Metro Junior Football Association.[3] He later joined North Adelaide's development program at age 12 where he began playing representative junior football.[4]

In 2013 he captained the under 15s South Australian representative schoolboys team at the year's national championships.[4] The following year he captained the premiership winning South Australian side at the Under 16 national championships.[4]

Graham made his SANFL senior debut with North Adelaide in June 2015. He had 15 possessions in the match, along with six marks, three tackles and two clearances.[5] That year he was also selected to play for his state at the under 18 national championships as a bottom aged player. He finished the tournament having played two matches.[4]

In the 2015/16 off-season Graham was a member of the 33-man AFL Academy squad. As part of the program he spent a fortnight training with the AFL's Port Adelaide in December 2015. He also joined the other members of the elite group in a training camp in Melbourne and another in the United States.[6] A quad injury sustained during this period however, saw his summer partially interrupted.[7]

In 2016 Graham was selected to represent and captain the South Australian side at the national under 18s carnival.[8] He was named among his state's best players in three of his four games at the tournament[7][9][10] His 25 disposals and five clearances per game both lead the competition while his 11 contested possessions saw him rank second. Graham also averaged 318 metres gained in his four matches at the carnival.[11] Graham was awarded the Larke Medal as the competition's best player, becoming the first South Australian to do so in 14 years.[12] He was later named in the competition's All Australian team and received South Australia’s most valuable player award.[13][14]

At state level he also performed strongly that year, averaging 24 disposals per game in the SANFL under 18s through the start of June 2016.[15] A quad injury saw Graham miss the club's finals campaign however and prematurely ended his final season at junior level.[16]

AFL recruitment

Graham was invited to attend the national draft combine in Melbourne in October 2016.[17] He did not complete pysical testing however due to a strained quad muscle.[18]

South Australian junior high performance manager Brenton Phillips likened to Graham to Hawthorn's Luke Hodge, saying he was a "really hard, inside, contested-ball winner who probably spreads a bit harder than Hodge."[19]

By the time the national draft came around in late November, Graham's stock had dropped considerably.[19] While the Herald projected Graham in the range 15 to 25, Fox Sport's Ben Waterworth was less confident, citing injuries and poor kicking as reasons for a late second or third round projection.[4][11] ESPN's Christopher Doerre also had Graham as likely second or third round pick while he was ranked 42nd in Draft Central's projections.[16] He was projected to be selected at pick 23 and pick 24 by AFL Media's Callum Twomey and The Age's Emma Quayle respectively in their draft day phantom drafts.[20][21]

AFL career

2017 season

Graham was drafted by Richmond with the club's second pick and the fifty third selection overall, the last pick of the 3rd round, in the 2016 AFL national draft.[22] In the weeks following the draft, Richmond recruiting manager Matthew Clarke cited Graham's defensive running as a key reason for his selection in addition to his on-ball prowess.[23]

He trained under a limited program in the 2017 pre-season due to the effects of hamstring tendinitis.[24][25] Graham remained in the clubs injury rehab ground until early March as a result of the injury, failing to play in the club's JLT Community Series campaign.[26] He suffered a further injury setback that month when he fractured his ankle during a club training session.[27] In late June he was removed from the club's long-term injury list and played his first half of football with the club's reserves side in the VFL.[28] Graham sustained a further ankle injury after one half of VFL play in mid-July. He did not return to the match after a first half in which he recorded a stunning 21 disposals, 14 contested possessions, eight clearances and six tackles.[29] He recovered from the injury after missing one match and returned to VFL football in late July.[30]

He finally made his senior debut in round 22 of the 2017 AFL season in an away match against Fremantle at Domain Stadium. He kicked a goal in the match, along with recording 13 disposals and laying a game-high 11 tackles.[31] In doing so he equaled Rupert Wills' VFL/AFL record for the most tackles recorded on debut.[32] He kicked another goal the following week, before lining up in Richmond's qualifying final where he laid six tackles in the first quarter and finished with an equal club-high nine tackles for the match.[33][34] By his fifth match he was lining up in Richmond's Grand Final side, being the youngest player in either of the Richmond or Adelaide teams.[35] After Crows midfielder Rory Sloane kicked two goals and was influential in the first half, Graham was tasked with a run-with role on him for the remainder of the match. Sloane failed to score again and recorded only six disposals from that point forward.[36] When Richmond defeated the Crows by 48 points, Graham became a 2017 premiership player. He finished the match with a game-high three goals as well as 16 disposals and was one of only six players from either side to receive votes for the best on ground award, the Norm Smith Medal.[37]

2018 season

During the summer Graham received life membership to Richmond for his premiership-winning appearance the previous year, despite having played just five AFL matches.[38] He also signed a new two-year contract extension, seeing him secured to the club until the end of the 2020 season.[39]

When the new season began Graham found himself right back into the Richmond best-22, making his season debut in round 1's opening match against Carlton. Graham repeated the negating role he had been used in during the grand final the previous year, this time being switched onto Patrick Cripps in an attempt to quell the young star's influence after half-time. He laid a game-high 13 tackles in Richmond's 26-point win and recorded 106 pressure points, the sixth most by any player in the history of the statistic.[40] After a quiet round 2, Graham was eyed for a potential negating role on prolific Hawthorn ball-winner Tom Mitchell [41] He was used only minimally in the role and was largely ineffective, with Mitchell clearly winning the midfield game despite Richmond's 13-point victory.[42][43] In round 4 Graham set a then season-best mark with 17 disposals but attracted a report for rough conduct against the Brisbane Lions's Dayne Zorko when he attempted to push Zorko out of a kick and hit him with a forearm to the head.[44][45] The incident was graded by the AFL's match review officer as intentional conduct with low impact to the head and Graham was subsequently offered a one match ban.[46] Graham and the club elected to challenge that decision however, taking the case to the AFL's Tribunal on the grounds that the hit was careless and not intentional.[47][48] The appeal was unsuccessful and Graham's one-match suspension was upheld.[49] To that point he was oddsmakers sixth favourite to take the league's Rising Star award despite not yet having been nominated. He was ruled ineligible to win the award as result of the suspension incurred.[50] At the end of round 4 he was ranked number one at the club and third in the league for pressure acts applied per game.[50]

Statistics

Statistics are correct to the end of round 11, 2018[44]
Legend
 G  Goals  B  Behinds  K  Kicks  H  Handballs  D  Disposals  M  Marks  T  Tackles
Season Team No. Games G B K H D M T G B K H D M T
Totals Averages (per game)
2017 Richmond 345503040709351.00.06.08.014.01.87.0
2018 Richmond 341022805713720560.20.28.05.713.72.05.6
Career 15 7 2 110 97 207 29 91 0.5 0.1 7.3 6.5 13.8 1.9 6.1

Family

His father Jeff Graham played 77 matches with West Torrens and Woodville West-Torrens in the SANFL between 1987 and 1992.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Talking Tigers, episode 21, 2018". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. 1 August 2018. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  2. ↑ Turner, Matt (26 November 2016). "New Tiger Jack Graham joins Rooster teammate Oleg Markov at Richmond". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  3. ↑ "NAFC PLAYERS in the AFL". North Adelaide Football Club. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Argent, Peter (25 October 2016). "AFL draft combine: SA hopeful Jack Graham, North Adelaide". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  5. ↑ Argent, Peter (1 July 2015). "Grassroots: SA footy round-up". InDaily. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Young defender to train with Magpies". Collingwood FC. Telstra Media. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  7. 1 2 Twomey, Callume (4 June 2016). "U18s: Graham leads SA to commanding win over Allies". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  8. ↑ Capel, Andrew (2 June 2016). "SANFL high performance manager Brenton Phillips wants greater exposure for SA draft prospects". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  9. ↑ Di Giorgio, Giulio (12 June 2016). "U18s: Scharenberg stars as SA downs Sandgropers". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  10. ↑ Guthrie, Ben (24 June 2016). "U18s: Jarman stars as SA topples Vic Country". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  11. 1 2 Waterworth, Ben (19 November 2016). "The 21 late-pick bargains clubs must consider in the 2016 AFL draft". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  12. ↑ Capel, Andrew (29 June 2016). "SA captain Jack Graham claims Larke Medal as Croweaters' title quest falls just short". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  13. ↑ Waterworth, Ben (30 June 2016). "Under 18s All-Australian team announced: Including Jack Graham, Hugh McCluggage, Jack Bowes". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  14. ↑ "SA's Graham wins U18 Medal". Adelaide FC. Telstra Media. 29 June 2016. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  15. ↑ Beveridge, Riley (3 June 2016). "AFL Under 18s Championships 2016: Ones to watch, fixtures, best draft prospects — Ultimate Guide". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  16. 1 2 Balmer, Matt (7 November 2016). "Matt Balmer's 2016 Final AFL Draft Power Rankings Part 1". AFL Draft Central. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  17. ↑ Capel, Andrew (3 August 2016). "Glenelg's slimmed-down Willie Rioli earns state draft combine invite". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  18. ↑ Quayle, Emma (9 October 2016). "Who did well at what: the AFL draft combine wrap". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  19. 1 2 Capel, Andrew (11 November 2016). "SA captain Jack Graham chasing the respect his Larke Medal deserves". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Twomey, Callum (24 November 2016). "Callum Twomey's 2016 Phantom Draft". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  21. ↑ Quayle, Emma (24 November 2016). "Who will your club choose in the 2016 AFL draft". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  22. ↑ Homfray, Reece (25 November 2016). "Just six South Australian players selected in 2016 AFL Draft". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  23. ↑ Greenberg, Tony (12 December 2016). "Graham ready to go". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  24. ↑ Greenberg, Tony (1 July 2017). "Focus on Jack Graham". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  25. ↑ Cahill, Georgina (29 January 2017). "Graham on his pre-season". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  26. ↑ Schmook, Nathan (1 March 2017). "'Welcome addition' Rance to return for Tigers". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. AFL Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  27. ↑ Collins, Ben (23 March 2017). "Tough break for Tigers draftee with ankle injury". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  28. ↑ Gillett, Lou (20 June 2017). "The VFL Report: Round 9". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  29. ↑ "The VFL Report: Round 13". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  30. ↑ Gillett, Lou (29 July 2017). "VFL: Graham returns". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 19 August 2017.
  31. ↑ King, Travis (20 August 2017). "Match report: Ruthless Tigers hammer flat Freo". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  32. ↑ Greenberg, Tony (21 August 2017). "Graham tackles record". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
  33. ↑ Schmook, Nathan (29 August 2017). "Tigers youngster tipped to shine in September". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  34. ↑ Robinson, Mark (8 September 2017). "Dustin Martin was at his dominant best in Richmond's huge win over Geelong". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  35. ↑ Capel, Andrew (30 September 2017). "Premiership flag a gas for Tea Tree Gully's Flash Jack Graham — who in just his fifth AFL game crushed his home state's hopes". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  36. ↑ Cherny, Daniel (1 October 2017). "Richmond grand final hero Jack Graham lives teenage dream". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 8 October 2017.
  37. ↑ Matt Windley and Michael Randall (30 September 2017). "Social media reacts to Norm Smith Medal voting: Was Bachar Houli robbed?". Herald Sun. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  38. ↑ Greenberg, Tony (3 February 2018). "Life honour for premiership Tigers". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  39. ↑ Cherny, Daniel (4 February 2018). "Richmond premiership hero Jack Graham re-commits until end of 2020". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
  40. ↑ Capel, Andrew (29 March 2018). "Number Crunch: Pressure king Jack Graham making every post a winner". The Advertiser. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  41. ↑ Phelan, Jason (4 April 2018). "Jack Riewoldt nominates Jack Graham to curtail Tom Mitchell when Richmond faces Hawthorn". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. AAP. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  42. ↑ Pierik, Jon (8 April 2018). "Foot down: Tigers' speed too great for Hawk". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  43. ↑ Cleary, Mitch (8 April 2018). "Tigers lacked late composure, says Hardwick". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  44. 1 2 "Jack Graham". AFL Tables. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  45. ↑ Browne, Ashley (14 April 2018). "Match report: Dusty destroys two-goal Lions". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  46. ↑ "Graham offered a week by MRP". Richmond FC. Telstra Media. 16 April 2018. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  47. ↑ Cherny, Daniel (17 April 2018). "Tigers challenge Jack Graham's one-week ban". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  48. ↑ Bowen, Nick (17 April 2018). "RECAP: Tiger's Tribunal appeal as it happened". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  49. ↑ Beveridge, Riley (17 April 2018). "Richmond midfielder Jack Graham fails to have one-match striking ban overturned at AFL tribunal". Fox Sports. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
  50. 1 2 Bowen, Jack (17 April 2018). "Ban upheld: Tigers fail appealing Jack whack". AFL Media. Telstra Media. Retrieved 17 April 2018.
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